Hoop-skirt



(No Model.)

B; STROUSE.

HOOP SKIRT.

No. 311,859. Patented Febp3, 1885.

UNiTJEn Starts PATENT @rrreis;

EDWARD STROUSE, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNEOTIGUT.v

HOOP-SKIRT.

SFEC'IEICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 311,859, dated February 3, 1885.

Apglieation filed June 12, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD Srnouss, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented anew improvement in Hoop-skirts; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked th ereou, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this speciii cation, and represent, in

Figure 1, a l'ront View of the shirt complete; Fig. 2, a section looking down upon one of the hoops; Fig. 3, a side view of so much as will show the connection of thehoops with the vertical stay.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class ot'hoop-skirts in which the hoops cX- tend but partially around the shirtthat is, so that a space is left at the front between the ends of the hoops. In this class of skirts the ends of the hoops are usually provided with a metal tip closed over the end, and so asto enrbracc the covering, to prevent in working backward from the ends of the hoops, and also to preventthe ends of the hoops from wearing through the pocket in the vertical tapes to which they are attached. The hoops are socured to the tapes by staple-like clasps; but however well they may be secured the springs S3011 work forward through the Vertical front tapes to which they are attached, and so that the ends of the hoops are exposed to interfere more or less with the outer garments. Again, there being no vertical support to maintain the ends of the hoops in their proper relation to each other,except so far as the tape may do so, the hoops work upward, contracting the length of the skirt, and permit the hoops to interlace, with each other, so as to destroy the contour of the skirt.

. The object of my invention is to overcome these ditticulties; and it consists in a hoopskirt in which the hoops extend "from a vertical support at one side of the front around to a like vertical support at the opposite side, the two vertical supports near the front connected by flexible tapes,the front support consisting of a metallic spring or stay, the ends of the hoops bent at substantially right angles to the hoop, and the bent ends clasped to the vertical stay, whereby the hoops are all rigidly connected and their ends protec'ted.

A A represent the several hoops of a hoopskirt. These extend from one side ofthe front around to a corresponding point on the opposite side, as seen in Fig. 2. The several hoops are connected by tapesBin the usual manner. At their front ends the end of each hoop is turned at substantially right angles to the hoop, either up or down, as the case may be, and as at a. To these turned ends a a vertical stay, I), is applied. This stay is best made from steel, the same as the hoops. The bent end of each hoop is clasped to the stay b by a metallic clip, (1, embracing the stay I) and the bent ends a, which firmly secure each of the hoops to the vertical stay, so as to hold them in their proper relation to each other, and at the same time protect the ends of the hoops. These vertical tapes 0 D are applied one at each of the stays b, and these are connected by transverse tapes E in the usual manner. By turning the ends of the hoops into line with the vertical stay and uniting them by a metallic clip the working up or rolling of the skirt or any derangement of the hoops at the front is avoided. The stay b extends only from the bottom hoop to the upper. From that point the'connection with the waistband is made by the tapes only, so that the upper part of the skirt is flexible.

I clain I A hoop-skirt in which the hoops extend from one side near the front around to a corresponding point at the opposite side, the ends of the several hoops bent at substantially right angles to the hoop, combined with a Vertical metallic stay, I), the said bent ends of the hoops joined to the said vertical stay by a metallic clasp, d, the several hoops also connected by vertical tapes, substantially as described.

EDvVARD STROUSE. Witnesses:

JOHN E. EARLE, J os. G. EARLE. 

